


Homecoming

by TheNinjaSheep



Category: Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood & Manga
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-06-24
Updated: 2020-06-24
Packaged: 2021-03-03 19:15:35
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,467
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24890680
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TheNinjaSheep/pseuds/TheNinjaSheep
Summary: A newly comissioned Roy Mustang knows he needs to talk to his master about Flame Alchemy but he's a coward as a certain Madame Christmas pointed out. However, there's something else he's afraind of a set of honey brown eyes.
Relationships: Riza Hawkeye/Roy Mustang, Roy Mustang/Madame Christmas
Comments: 4
Kudos: 14





	Homecoming

A newly commissioned Roy Mustang walks into Madame Christmas Bar one night before his scheduled arrival. He’s tired but the resolution in his eyes is clear, he thinks that at twenty years old he can make a difference in the world. However, there’s something else on his mind that needs to be addressed and, despite his apparent reluctance, he know aunt Chris can help him with his predicament. 

At least, that’s what he hopes.

It’s well past midnight when he enters through the backdoor into the quiet lounge area that’s reserved only for staff. 

“Roy?”

Startled he looks up to see Vanessa is standing there looking at him like he’s a ghost or something else, she looks mortifies to say the list and the reason waltz into the room few minutes later. 

“Vanessa, babe, where are-- you?” a young man with chestnut hair and hazel eyes walks in and places a hand on Vanessa’s waist seductively trying to call her attention, he stops abruptly at the sight of the uniform. Then: “Who are you?”

Roy frowns, confused. Aunt Chris is not one to let anyone on her inner circle so easily and he’d never seen this man before enlisting so he’s rather new or Vanessa sneaked him in without her aunt’s knowing -or that’s what she may think-. Either way, this man has no idea who Roy is and therefore he doesn’t trust him either. 

Finally, he speaks. 

“I can say the same about you. Who’s this Vanessa?”

At this, Vanessa looks mortified but not because she has no idea how to answer Roy without getting herself in trouble with the Madame, but because it’s Roy and he’s back and he caught her with another man. At that last thought, she laughs internally because Roy is off limits for all the girls working at Madame Christmas’ and because he has no eyes for them, apparently, if all the efforts each one of them made throughout the years can be accounted for. 

“He’s uh- Tony,” she clears her throat “is my.. boyfriend” and after a minute or two, she almost begs on her knees. “Please don’t tell the Madame, I’ll do it myself”

Tony doesn't seem to catch what’s happening because he holds Vanessa closer to him and looks at Roy with defiance, ready to start a fight. 

Sighing Roy slumps his shoulders a little and walks past them to the main hall and to the bar without looking behind. 

“You better tell her, she might as well know already. Goodnight.”

While Roy spects no welcome party whatsoever, he’s surprised to find the bar is almost empty and that the few patrons that have a table are the regulars that really go there to have a drink and relax on the bar. No intel is being gathered today and despite that, some of the girls are chatting with the men and the familiar figure on the counter is serving a couple of drinks: the finest vodka in Amestris.

“Long time no see, Roy Boy”, she greets without looking at him, lost in her task as if avoiding an emotional reunion after two years of letters exchanged two or three times a week. He smiles a little at that: his aunt is no woman for open and public displays of affection even if she missed him terribly, as she has, he can tell that much.

“Hey”, he whispers and thinks better of it and with no small amount of amusement, salutes her like she’s one of the generals on Easter Command. 

She finally looks at him and chuckles at his antics. 

"At ease, soldier," she says and slides one of the cups she just served in his direction. "Tonight it's on the house."

He downs the vodka in one go and grimaces when the liquor burns his throat. 

“This is a good one”.

“You think?”, the Madame teases, he nods. “Good, now you can loosen up and tell why I was not warned of your early arrival, _boy_.”

And the emphasis on the word makes him well aware that he is in some kind of trouble. He really managed to sneak up on her, she’s surprised to see him one day before and annoyed because her little brat thinks he can outsmart her whenever he likes. 

“I couldn’t stand one more day of Hughes' babbling, I’m a soldier you know? But that’s too much to endure, I had to scape”. 

She snorts. 

“And I missed you, so you know”.

At this the Madame stops in the middle of refilling his cup, pauses deliberately slow to take a look at him, to _really_ look at him, and smiles. He returns the gesture until she slap him with a rag.

“Silly boy, I missed you too”.

\---

He spends the rest of the night chatting with his aunt. His military jacket and coat are discarded on his room upstairs, and now he looks like a twenty year old boy again, not a soldier but a young man. 

“So, what are your plans now? We are you headed?”

Right. He feels a lump on his stomach because he has no idea where he is going to be send. The Easter Region is in turmoil, is very likely that he’s going to be sent there to the trenches in Ishval, but also, he has something that he needs to do before that. He’s also an alchemist and he has to test his luck with it in the army, but to do that he has to speak to a man and revisit a past that he has no idea how to face. 

Berthold Hawkeye is gonna incinerate him on the spot the minute he sees his uniform, and Miss Riza... he has no idea how she’s gonna react. The last time he saw her he was leaving in a hurry after his master decided that he was a waste of his time if he was pursuing the military as a career path. They never - properly- said goodbye. 

But instead, he’s apparentñy suicidal and takes another route to the subject. 

“Aunt Chris”, he begins.

“It’s Madame now, boy, remember that. You’re a soldier”. He grunts noncommittally in understanding and looks at her when she finally comes to sit by his side. 

“Alright, _Madame_ ”, he starts reluctantly, “have you... have you ever fell in love before?” 

He looks at her from the corner of his eye. He can see she’s thinking but also, how her eyes are full of a determination that makes him wonder if she finally decided that she was not suited for motherhood and is planning his bloody murder, because Chris Mustang is many things, but secretive and private are the most distinct of her character traits, even with him from time to time. 

And when he thinks it is better to accept defeat and run through the hills to save his life, she chuckles again.

“What's gotten into you, eh, Roy Boy?”

“I'm just curious”, he dare say.

“Oh really?”, she says, defying him. “Because I think, truth be told, that you have a death wish.”

He gulps, that was a terrible idea and he’s not even sure what brought the subject. He’s distressed because he wants to learn Flame Alchemy and needs a really good case to present to his master. In fact, he doesn't want to know the confines of Chris Mustang's heart that much even if he IS curious now that the question is out of his mouth. 

“You know you _can't_ fool me right?” 

A pause. 

“What's really on your mind?”

He sighs. She’s not going to miraculously revealing anything about her life before he came to live with her and now she’s on the hunt for whatever it is that’s bothering him. But he just need time to think, not to be interrogated. Defeated, he decides to tell her the truth. 

“I don’t know where I am going to be sent. But I need to pay a visit before that happens and I don’t think I’m gonna be welcomed, I might need a little bit of courage.”

“Maybe you do. Your master is not gonna be the cheery type for a welcome party but, also you made an impression with someone else out there”. 

“I’m not so sure”. 

And after what looks like an eternity, the Madame stands from her seat and heads for the stairs not before muttering a “ _scaredy-cat_ ” on her way up to her room. 

Roy slumps on the counter and admits defeat. He’s scared but not of his master, he knows very well how that conversation is going to be. He even knows what the possible outcome is but there’s a set of honey brown eyes that he feels he doesn't have the courage to face right now, not after two years of silence.

**Author's Note:**

> Hello there! I think I finally got the courage somewhe to post this. I really hope you comment if you like it or leave some kudos. Since english is not my mother language there might be some typos and errors somewhere between the lines, and I'm sorry for that.


End file.
